Electronic devices need to provide more functionality at an ever shrinking form factor. Tablet and ultra-small (or ultra-thin) PCs require devices such as storage (SSD/HDD) and wireless modems (WiFi adaptor).
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example edge-card 100. The edge card has a “gum-stick” form factor. The “gum-stick” form factor edge-card connection allows for hardware swapping and upgrades, and has a thickness and X-Y footprint that takes up valuable real estate in the device. The example in FIG. 1 shows a basic “gum-stick” SSD card design 100 with components on one side. Components include an ASIC 102a, flash memory 102b-c, and passive components 104. Each of the three types of components (and the edge card connector itself) contribute to the X dimension of the card, and the total thickness (Z dimension) is defined by the thickest component plus the thickness of the card. Typically, the total Z dimension of the card (˜1 mm) with the flash packaging and other components (˜1 mm) is on the order of 2 mm.
Features shown in the figures are for illustrative purposes and are not drawn to scale.